Weird and unusual news! Italian police are looking for a man supposedly hypnotising people and making them hand over money:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7309947.stm

In every case, the last thing staff reportedly remember is the thief leaning over and saying: “Look into my eyes”, before finding the till empty.

In the latest incident captured on CCTV, he targeted a bank at Ancona in northern Italy, then calmly walked out.

A female bank clerk reportedly handed over nearly 800 euros (£630).

The cashier who was shown the video footage has no memory of the incident, according to Italian media, and only realised what had happened when she saw the money missing.

CCTV from the bank showed her apparently being hypnotised by the man, according to the reports.

Update March 31st: Some interesting commentary on this on Bruce Schneier’s blog:
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/03/hypnotist_thief.html